


Making Waves Across My Time

by tomfoolery14



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: BAMF Magnus Bane, Boys In Love, Childhood Trauma, Fluffy Ending, Inspired by Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Light Angst, M/M, Magic, Magnus has a familiar, Slight Canon Divergence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-04
Updated: 2019-01-04
Packaged: 2019-10-03 23:40:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,920
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17293508
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tomfoolery14/pseuds/tomfoolery14
Summary: Magnus has a familiar that assists in his magic, and one day he must return to his childhood home in Indonesia with her. Alec tags along and sees a new side of his boyfriend.





	Making Waves Across My Time

**Author's Note:**

> inspired by chilling adventures of sabrina because it made me start thinking about different ways magnus’ identity as a warlock could have been manifested. also, i love the idea of warlocks and their familiars ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ i had posted this on tumblr awhile ago but decided to go ahead and add it here too.
> 
> title from strange magic by elo

There had always been something mesmerizing to Alec about watching Magnus perform magic.

The energy itself was fascinating to watch, its movements fluid and graceful. The pulsing, pale blue tendrils responded like another appendage, bent to his will.

Magnus used his entire body when he performed magic, letting it roll through him like a tidal wave, sparking through his blood and coalescing in his palms. His feet were firmly planted, left slightly in front of right, and his shoulders were set with the blades of his upper back challenging the strength of the fabric of his shirt. Every flexed muscle stood out beneath his skin, each ripple clear. His fingers fluttered sinuously, commanding the symphony of magic with delicate strength.

As Head of the Institute, Alec’s duties required that he be present while the warding was being adapted, and he was all too eager to do just that. He took in the glowing symbols, written in a language he’d only seen in the oldest books Magnus kept in his apothecary, locked away in a cabinet. It was the most complicated language Alec had ever seen, and he still couldn’t make heads or tails of the even the warding, but it still fascinated him.

When the magic in Magnus’ palms was extinguished, he turned to face Alec. “I assure you, nothing will be entering the premises without your express permission, Mr. Lightwood.”

“Unparalleled work, as always, Mr. Bane,” Alec replied, holding out his hand. He was stifling a smile, his lips turned up at the corners. “Your fee is more than reasonable but I plan to give a generous tip to show just how grateful we are for your services.”

Tilting his chin up slightly, Magnus returned the smile of self-satisfaction. “A delight, I’m sure. One that I plan to collect tonight.”

Leaning in to plant a swift kiss to the corner of Magnus’ mouth, Alec hummed in assent. “I’ll be home for dinner in a couple hours.”

“I look forward to it.” With a casual wave of his hand, Magnus summoned a portal that he was quick to disappear through.

Alec wished he could follow, and couldn’t help but count down the minutes until he could be back in the loft, back with Magnus.

He couldn’t believe that he once called the Institute home. There was nothing about it that could compete with the safety and comfort of Magnus’. Where it was warm and safe and inviting, the Institute had always been cold and rigid and dismal. The rooms were as uniform as the soldiers that occupied them, regulation down to the very last detail. There was no place for him to stretch out, both literally and figuratively. With Magnus’ help, he’d learned how to allow himself the freedom to grow and change, and it never would have been possible while he remained cooped up in the Institute.

As soon as he stepped foot in the loft, a strong autumnal scent overwhelmed Alec’s senses, and he heard quiet crooning coming from the living room. After toeing off his boots, he followed the sound—Magnus was sitting on the couch with his familiar, a sleek black cat named Cordelia with large amber eyes and wide pupils, perched in his lap as he spoke to her.

“No news is good news, my friend,” Magnus was telling her plainly, running one hand along the length of her back. She mewled in response, and his head tilted slightly as he listened to her response. Suddenly, he turned and made eye contact with Alec, dropping his hands to his sides. “He  _is_ home,” he addressed Cordelia, though he stood to greet Alec with a kiss and an affectionate squeeze to his hip. “Glad to have you home, Alexander.”

“Glad to be home,” Alec replied with a longsuffering sigh. “What a day.”

Magnus’ hands rose to Alec’s shoulders, fingers kneading expertly and coaxing a moan of pleasure from him. “I’ll be putty in your hands in less than a minute if you keep that up,” Alec warned, eyelids drooping.

Magnus laughed, continuing his ministrations. “That wouldn’t be so bad, would it? I was promised a tip after all, and I think that would be more than suitable.”

Just as Alec was about to reply, the flick of Cordelia’s tail against his ankles made him jump in surprise.

“What is it, Cordy my love?” Magnus asked, flashing his own cat’s eyes at her as he scooped her up. His eyebrows furrowed in consternation and he turned abruptly to enter his apothecary.

Alec followed curiously, watching Cordelia jump from Magnus’ arms and land gracefully atop one of the cabinets. Her tail flicked purposefully, and Alec watched as Magnus carefully extracted a replica of a small cottage from inside it. It resembled a dollhouse, with its delicate detailing and infrastructure.

Carrying it to his desk, Magnus laid it out and turned both his palms down above it. He began murmuring under his breath, quickly and quietly with his lips moving rapidly. Alec couldn’t make out any of the words, but he could still surmise it was a spell. When the figure began to glow faintly, an unmistakable crimson light coming from the inside, Magnus’ hands dropped to his sides and Cordelia let out a hiss. “You’re right, of course,” he agreed, eyes fixed in place.

“What is that place?” Alec asked.

“My childhood home. In Batavia,” Magnus explained, banishing the figure back to the cabinet with a dismissive wave of his hand. “I keep it heavily guarded to ensure no one enters the grounds, and every so often the spell needs to be reinforced, like I do for my warding. It’s a similar kind of magic. And it’s beginning to dwindle.”

“Why do you seal it off?”

Magnus hesitated for a moment, turning one of his rings rhythmically on his finger. “There’s a great darkness that ensnares that land and that home. Asmodeus impregnated my mother there—a greater demon lying with a human to beget a warlock child. My mother took her own life as she was drowned by her fear and shame. My powers were truly unleashed inside of me when I burned my stepfather to death. There’s a great deal of preternatural darkness that haunts that land. It’s no place for anyone to find themselves. It needed to be contained.”

Alec had learned by now that to apologize for the great misfortunes of Magnus’ past was fruitless, and only served to make him feel more unhelpful. Even though there was nothing he wanted more than to take the pain away from Magnus, to reach inside his chest and heal the battered and bruised pieces of his heart with his own two hands, Alec knew that that was not only impossible, but not what Magnus needed from him. He didn’t need someone to take away his pain for him—he simply needed someone to stand by him, to love him as he battled his demons. And Alec could do that.

“I’m coming with you,” he said, reaching for Magnus’ hand. Their fingers joined with a sensation of electric currents running along their skin where they touched, and their pulses mingled.

“I don’t think I could stop you even if I wanted to,” Magnus replied, and though his tone was light, Alec could see that beneath the airy smile, there was a deep and genuine gratitude. That was worth any price. Opening a portal, Magnus looked down at Cordelia, sitting at his side. “Are you ready to return home, Cordy?” he cooed. At her purr of acknowledgement, the three of them stepped through and onto the gravel road of Magnus’ village.

Alec had never seen it before—not even pictures. He of all people understood that some pieces of the past needed to be locked away, forgotten. Particularly those that couldn’t yet be forgiven. It didn’t mean he wasn’t curious, though. He wanted to know what Magnus had seen as a child when he looked out the window of his home at the night sky. He wanted know what home had once smelled like for him. He wanted everything Magnus had to offer him.

The village was akin to a ghost town, empty and decayed. Clearly it had been abandoned many years prior to now, left to wither away until it ceased to exist at all. There was only one dirt road that ran through the village, and the lack of tracks of any kind pressed into it made it clear that it had been quite some time since anyone had given this place any thought at all.

The cottage was one of the first homes on the right, and Magnus’ steps halted for a moment when they got close to it.

Alec squeezed Magnus’ hand tightly, a reminder of his presence.

“This is it, Alexander,” Magnus whispered, eyes glued to the small building that showed clear signs of being in an advanced stage of entropy. “This was where it all happened.”

Cordelia moved in front of them, pacing slowly as her eyes tracked even the slightest bit of movement. Whenever Magnus performed magic, she assumed a position of defense, covering him while he was at his most vulnerable.

With resignation, Magnus pulled his hand from Alec’s. His palms faced out, right behind the left, and his thumb, forefinger, and middle finger nearly overlapping as he began to recite a spell. The invocation was unlike anything Alec had ever heard, and it was spoken in a deep and quiet voice that rumbled from Magnus’ chest. The magic that centered in his palms was dark orange and resembled rich flames in every aspect. The glamour over Magnus’ eyes was long gone.  

As the magic grew stronger, Magnus’ voice became louder. The continuous recitation of the binding spell was feeding the magic, stoking the fire. It crawled up from the ground and thickened into a barrier that grew to encase the territory like a skin—more like a membrane than a wall, and flexible to accommodate what it contained.

Just as suddenly as the incantation began, it came to an end, Magnus’ hands falling to his sides and his chest heaving from the exertion. The barrier shimmered faintly before slowly fading away into an invisible energy that Alec could feel from the way the hairs on his arms and down the back of his neck stood up simply by being close to it.

Coming to a halt, Cordelia meowed once then lowered herself into a sitting position at Magnus’ feet.

“What kind of power does it take to create barriers of protection like this? Or warding?” Alec asked.

Magnus exhaled a slightly breathless laugh. “It depends on the warlock. Your average, everyday warlock would be drained of most of their magic for at most a few days after performing what I just did. However, seeing as I am…a rare case, my refractory period is exponentially shorter in most cases.” He paused thoughtfully. “Greater than a lesser demon yet lesser than a greater demon. Funny, when you think about it.”

“You’re not the type to fit easily into conventional demonic hierarchy,” Alec pointed out. “And I happen to like that about you.”

Moving to rejoin their hands, Magnus tugged Alec gently. “Come along,  _ganteng_. It would be a waste for me to forgo an opportunity to show you my old haunts.”

“I’ll follow you anywhere.” As soon as the words left Alec’s lips, he knew, all the way down to his bones, that they were the truest he’d ever spoken.

**Author's Note:**

> come find me on [tumblr](http://royaltybane.tumblr.com)


End file.
